s of
the hills, so as to intercept the torrents which roll rapidly down
their sides in the winter months: and having drained off the water
from the ditches in summer, they find considerable quantities of
gold-dust in the mud which remains. It is generally believed that this
island furnishes annually 5000 pounds weight of gold-dust,[6] yet
very little of this quantity is ever brought to Europe, being mostly
employed by the servants of the East India Company in making purchases
of commodities in places where gold bears a high price.

[Footnote 6: Supposing these troy pounds, the value may be estimated
at L. 240,000 sterling.--E.]

The Dutch East India Company has long entertained a project of
building ships at this island, as its timber is so good that ships
built here are expected to last forty or fifty years, whereas those of
Europe seldom last more than twelve or thirteen years. The Dutch have
a strong fort and great factory at _Jambee_, and another at _Siack_,
both in this island. This last place is excessively unwholesome, owing
to the following circumstance, which certainly might be obviated. It
stands on the great river Andragheira, into which, at one season of
the year, there come vast shoals of large shads, a third part of
their bulk being composed of their _roes_, which are accounted a great
delicacy. Wherefore, after taking these out, the rest of the fish is
thrown away, and as these lie in great heaps to corrupt, they exhale
pestilential vapours and infect the air. The persons, therefore, who
are sent to reside at Siack, are much of the same description
with those formerly mentioned as sent to Banda, being of abandoned
characters and desperate fortunes. There is another very considerable
factory on the river Bencalis, which produces a large profit from the
sale of cloth and opium, for which gold-dust is received in payment.
This trade was discovered about forty years ago, that is, about
the year 1680, by a factor, who carried it on privately for his own
emolument for ten years, during which he acquired upwards of a _ton
of gold_ yearly, a Dutch phrase implying L. 10,000 sterling. He then
resolved to secure what he had got by making a disclosure of this
valuable branch of traffic to the company. There are also several
Dutch establishments on what is called the _West-coast_ of Sumatra.

A very powerful and warlike people subsists in this island, known to
Europeans by the name of the _Free-nation_, who are equ